


JOLT

by Kaillingme (Setty94)



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Dystopia, M/M, Memories, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 18:19:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15370524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setty94/pseuds/Kaillingme
Summary: In which humanity without emotions is not perfect.





	JOLT

**Author's Note:**

> [Based entirely on this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dIXJi5GlwQ)  
>  and inspiration is drawn from the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
> 
> Oh and there is one unnamed dead guy, but no descriptions in case that squicks ya~

 

A moan.

It was forlorn like it came from someone who was in pain. But pain wasn’t possible anymore, nor was fear, or sadness or any ‘unsavory’ emotion. Not since the government outlawed them and introduced the Societies.

There it was again. It sounded fainter this time.

Baekhyun gave a two finger signal to the others behind him. They all crept very quietly behind him. He glanced sidelong at Jongin, catching the glint of the crystals that surrounded his eye. A gun was in his hand, pink fingernails glittering in the moonlight against the dark weapon. Their gazes met and Baekhyun felt a jolt of something in the back of his head.

_ “Unng!” _

It was louder now. They had to be close. Baekhyun held out his arm and the other’s stopped leaving him and Jongin to proceed with caution. They didn’t know who or what it was making that sound. Nothing was supposed to be out in the woods after curfew. Nothing was supposed to be in the woods in general. They were off limits.

A small clearing, more likely made by the creature that was moaning, came into view as Baekhyun and Jongin moved forward. Baekhyun was aware of the others behind him, lingering just out of view.

He and Jongin shared no words, no looks – Baekhyun was wary of another jolt. They weren’t painful, not in the sense that an injury would be, but they caused discomfort. The type of discomfort that settled deep in his brain, past  _ alteration _ made by the surgeons. It woke something inside him, something that was supposed to stay hidden and it seemed to be triggered by Jongin’s blue eyes. Instead, Baekhyun stared at the dark swoop of his hair or the crystals on his temple. They were safer.

“On my count,” Baekhyun said through the link and held up three fingers. He lowered them one by one and the two of them burst into the clearing.

On the ground was something Baekhyun had not anticipated seeing. There was a man curled in on himself, draped with a ratty blanket. He sounded another moan, having not noticed them at all, and shuddered. Pain. He was in pain.

Jongin stepped up to the man, nudging him with his gun, but not firing it. When the man did not respond, he looked up at Baekhyun in question, catching Baekhyun off-guard and locking him into another jolt.

Baekhyun grimaced, shutting his eyes in reflex and stumbling back. This time with the jolt came a memory. 

_ He is standing in the middle of a snowy field. The clouds above are thick and spewing more snow, cascading down almost in sheets. Baekhyun is cold, but he is not worried. He knows that Jongin will show up. He knows that they will escape the Society. There are rumors of a place farther away where people are free to live their lives, pain, sadness, anger, and all. A place where humans are human and not perfect models of control and destruction. _

_ Flakes dot his coat. Baekhyun pulls his beanie down over his ears and breathes into his mittens, trying to warm himself. He shifts from foot to foot, sinking lower into the blanket of snow and nearly tripping. Where is Jongin? _

_ Baekhyun is sitting now. Shivers clatter his teeth in his skull. It’s been an hour now and still no Jongin. Baekhyun begins to wonder what happened when he sees a figure on the horizon. He watches them approach him quickly before he processes the screams for Baekhyun to run and hide. _

_ It’s too late. _

Baekhyun blinked away the white of the snow from his vision. A million questions rocketed through his mind, but he quieted them. He was on a mission after all.

“You okay?” Jongin asked, sidling over to Baekhyun, the gun hanging in his hand.

Baekhyun nodded. “I’m fine. Just another one of those jolts.”

A look of worry crossed Jongin’s face before he corrected with a blank slate. “You should see the surgeons about that. You know:  _ a jolt and then you’ll die _ .”

Baekhyun ignored that statement and kicked the man’s foot. He didn’t make a sound this time. In fact, he was still. Baekhyun crouched down and lifted the blanket, revealing a deep gash in the man’s abdomen. It was self-inflicted.

“Call the others,” Baekhyun whispered. 

He waited to hear the sound of Jongin retreating into the forest to alert the rest of their troop, but heard nothing. When he glanced over his shoulder, he caught Jongin staring in horror – an emotion they were not supposed to feel – and instantly Baekhyun shot to his feet.

A strange faint feeling crawled up Baekhyun’s spine. He glanced between the man and Jongin, feeling his heart rate begins to skyrocket. His limbs felt twitchy like he wanted to run. It was a strong urge that he could feel, but knew he shouldn’t act on. So he didn’t.

Jongin didn’t move at first. He stood there, eyes wide, mouth popped open and a tight grip on gun. Then, he stepped towards Baekhyun, chest heaving and hands trembling before he fell to his knees and dropped the gun. His hands shot up to clutch his head and he mouthed silent words at Baekhyun, but no sound came out.

It was like watching a glitch in the matrix. Almost as soon as it had happened, it stopped and Jongin was standing normally, face relaxed and dusting off the gun nonchalantly. Baekhyun stared, unsure how to respond but knowing full well that he couldn’t call the others to them now, not when this was happening.

“Jongin?”

Jongin looked up from the gun and trained his gaze on Baekhyun’s mouth, not his eyes. “Please don’t say anything.”

“How long has this been happening?”

“Since I was assigned to your unit.”

Silence stretched between them. They were supposed to be the elite, they were supposed to be perfect.  _ Yet _ , Baekhyun thought, they were deteriorating. Their kind was still in its infancy. They were still the prototypes.

‘ _ A jolt and then you’ll die. _ ’

Baekhyun looked around them, scrutinizing the trees, the bushes, the brush at their feet. Maybe there was a latent signal going off in this clearing. Maybe it caused the man to injure himself. But there was nothing hiding.

In the act of skimming through their surroundings, Baekhyun’s eyes passed over Jongin’s and there was a vague feeling in the back of his head. Instead of the sickly feeling that crawled up his back, this time it was a blooming heat in his chest. An overwhelming feeling of  _ something _ . He looked away, feeling his pulse quicken.

But, Jongin closed the distance, cautious and holding his breath. His blue eyes flicked back and forth between Baekhyun’s and then there was the sound of the gun falling to the earth again. Trembling hands brushed Baekhyun’s cheek and Baekhyun almost tilted his face into it. It was a familiar gesture, one that the jolt had brought back to him. But he knew he needed to be careful, enough jolts could kill a person. 

_ ‘A jolt and then you’ll die.’ _

After a long moment, Baekhyun turned away, staring at the dead man under the blanket. There wasn’t anything they could have done to save him in the first place, but their silence had to be raising alarms for the rest of the group.

“You feel it too?” Jongin whispered.

Baekhyun nodded. 

‘ _ A jolt and then you’ll die.’ _

“What should we do?” Jongin asked. He had left the gun on the ground but was now kneeling in front of the body.

‘ _ A jolt and then you’ll die. A jolt and then you’ll die. A jolt and then you’ll die. A jolt and then you’ll die.’ _

Baekhyun’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. He blinked, trying to force the words from his mind, but each iteration of the phrase kept bringing back memory after memory. Painful memories, happy memories. Memories of before. Memories of when he was free. Memories of when he was human.

Looking down at his hands, it was almost as if Baekhyun could see the hybrid of technology and bone beneath his skin. He could feel the nanites coursing through his blood, cleansing all toxins, maintaining his body at the perfect status quo. He was hyper-aware of all of that and it was terrifying.

A sound erupted from his lips and there was motion in the trees. It was only after he realized he had let out a moan that he saw the rest of his troop surrounding him. Their inhuman, unfeeling eyes glowed silver in the moonlight filtering through the canopy.

Baekhyun moved to stand in front of Jongin. He remembered everything now. He felt Jongin grab his hand as they stood together in the middle of that small clearing.

Baekhyun understood this line now. This mission was never about the person in the clearing. It was about them. Jongin and him.

_ ‘A jolt and then you'll die.’ _


End file.
